Open Range is a fresh new brand emerging from the Northwest specializing in creative multi-media. Video, Photo, Aerial, Edit, Print.

Franklin Falls Rainy Day Aerial

After spending a couple days researching different backpack options for my DJI Phantom 3 Professional, I finally pulled the trigger on one I found by Procraft on Amazon. The requirements were that it needed to carry the drone, controller, extra battery, monitor screen, and my camera with at least one lens. Tall order but the one I found had room for that and more.

Upon the backpacks arrival I immediately planned a mission to test out how functional it was. I picked Franklin Falls to keep things simple and headed out. There was still some snow on the ground but I decided to trail jog it to really see how comfortable this load was on my back. Surprisingly the straps wrapped around pretty good and made a snug fit to reduce the bouncing as I ran.

Arriving at the falls there was a light mist in the air but my mind was set on flying the drone so went for it. It didn't pick up GPS right away, which felt a bit risky, but after taking off and elevating the drone about a hundred feet, it kicked and provided better control. The canyon was wide enough to fly and capture different perspectives but getting too close to the falls covered the lens with water drops. After the first battery I wiped it down and waited a bit as the rain had started to pick up. This gave me a good opportunity to snag a couple static shot of the falls from my Panasonic GH4 on a Manfrotto Mini Tripod. My Tarmron 28-75mm gave some good options for different focal lengths. The second battery I tried flying past the falls to get some shots following the river down to the cliffs edge. It's amazing how many different styles of movement you can get filming just one subject when you have aerial abilities.